


Manners Maketh Man

by Moami



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Crack, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Martial Arts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 01:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8426128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moami/pseuds/Moami
Summary: Yuuri can do martial arts, nobody knows about it until Viktor happens, and Viktor really has to stop overwhelming Yuuri. Maybe he'd find a way to get them together then.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written after episode 4 came out, so no guarantee that this will still fit in with canon after the series progresses.

Yuuri was in the last bits of his choreography when Viktor came strolling back in and towards the rink. The music was still going, so someone must have looped it, and Viktor didn’t have to look far to find Yuko sitting by the CD player. She didn’t seem to notice him, her glance resting on the figure in the rink.

“Can’t blame you for looking,” Viktor mumbled to himself. He didn’t dare to glance at Yuuri’s silhouette until he was halfway around the arena, carefully carrying the cup of coffee that steamed through a gap in the lid.

The corner shop had been out of both coffee and tea, forcing him to check the bakery three streets away. Yuuri had been so absorbed in the repetition of his new choreography that Viktor had just left. And if he’d jaywalked more than one traffic light to get back faster, well, nobody needed to know. Yuuri was a sight, after all, and Viktor was his coach, so he had all the right to do what coaches did. Which naturally included a lot of looking and nodding and some more examining all the motions, the shy laughter that had to be earned and never felt deserved because he just couldn’t be that good a man.

So he allowed himself to turn his head and stare. A spectacularly bad idea.

Yuuri must have pulled off his jacket sometime while he’d been gone, and now he was dancing in dark leggings and a tight shirt. He turned in a corner of the rink just then and leaned forward, a spring coiling up with flitting tension.

Viktor stopped walking. He knew what part was coming up, and the approach looked different than all the times before.

Something was happening. Yuuri had changed, either himself or his motions.

Viktor’s fingers went tight around the cup.

Yuuri jumped.

The ice screeched when the blades pushed off it and a cloud of glittering snow fluffed into the air. His eyes wide open, Yuuri sprang into a high twirl (was he really going to - oh, Viktor shivered, yes _please_ ), arms snatching against his chest, twisting around the invisible axis that conducted the final movement of his choreography. _One, two_ \- Viktor took a step, stumbling over his feet, and clutched at the railing, almost spilling the coffee all over himself - _three_ \- his heart thundered, he would do it, unbelievable, where had this man been all his life - and _four_.

A quadruple. And that damn fourth spin hadn’t just been there. Viktor forced himself to start walking again. His fingers had indented the cardboard. The technique had been perfect, elegant and effortless and its interpretation quite different from what he’d been teaching Yuuri all this time. His skin was prickling with little shudders.

Viktor couldn’t stop a huge grin from crawling onto his face. He had to look absolutely mental and it didn’t matter one damn bit.

Yuuri had found his own way to do it.

The last notes of the music trickled in. Then, a harsh thrum skipped through the air as the CD began replaying itself, the soft intro building up with violins and a flute. Yuuri had stopped in the middle of the rink, a hand on his heart, and then jolted into motion, racing towards the edge where Yuko stood.

“Oh my God!” Yuko was on her feet and screamed. “Yuuri, oh, oh. You - you did it!”

Viktor just almost dropped the coffee. He forgot about elegance and that he found running to look stupid when it wasn’t on ice, and he forgot about his voice, too. Yuko was down the stands in a few surprisingly large jumps for her size, and Yuuri came climbing over the rink with a beaming smile that made Viktor’s heart skip.

“I did it,” Yuuri said. He was trembling all over, and seemed close to falling over until Yuko gripped his hands. The music was rising in volume. Viktor was almost there, clutching the coffee.

“That was incredible,” Yuko’s grin would have made her even more beautiful if Viktor cared about that, and then she looked over Yuuri’s shoulder and saw him coming, “oh, there he - “

“Where’s Vikt-,” Yuuri began. And maybe Viktor should have given a warning, for the sake of the coffee at least, but his mind was spinning around the quadruple and he didn’t think.

He clasped his hand on Yuuri’s shoulder and said his name.

A few things then happened at once.

The music reached a quiet passage and went from a full majestic orchestra to a piccolo flute solo.

Yuko said: “There he is,” and threw her hands forward to hug Yuuri, probably for his success and because she was just like that.

And Yuuri did something. Viktor couldn’t quite say what it was, though, but he felt a gush of searing hot liquid explode over his hand, and then his back hit the floor with a literally breathtaking crash.

Someone screamed. “Are you alright? Oh my God, Yuuri, what did you do to him?”

“He - I didn’t - he just came at me!”

“I’m fine,” Viktor told the ceiling once he realized that he lying on the ground next to the rink and that someone had thrown him there. “That was incredible.”

Hands grabbed at his wrists. It was Yuko who pulled him up, face pale and mouth slightly open. “I had no idea that he could do that,” she said in the voice of someone who’d just witnessed a murder. “How did I not know that? He just - you touched him and he was so fast all of a sudden. I can’t believe this.”

“He didn’t mention to you that he was doing martial arts?” Viktor craned his neck around for Yuuri, but the rink was empty. All that training had made him fast on his feet. Viktor never thought he’d find it inconvenient. His back ached, he felt like someone had dragged him through a juicer, and his blood was pumping in ecstasy.

“No,” Yuko said, staring the same way as Viktor did. She let go of his hand and tilted her head thoughtfully. “He never said a word. I just don’t get it, he’s such a polite person.”

Viktor wanted to say that Yuuri hadn’t been impolite. He’d just thrown him to the ground in a really fascinating way that made him look like a warrior taking down his enemies before going back to the most gentle man ever.

Instead, he said: “Huh.”

* * *

“Oh my,” his grandmother said. “Is this the truth?”

“Yes, grandma,” Viktor said gently. “You see, I may have a boyfriend soon. It’s not certain yet but, well, I’m working on it. So I thought you and mama ought to be prepared.”

“Now what in the world is that supposed to mean?”

“What - well, it means that I’m gay.” Phoning her always gave him two things: a headache or a warm feeling in his stomach, and sometimes both at once. Someone yelled _dinner is ready!_ in the background.

“A boyfriend?”

“It’s really nothing spectacular nowadays. Sorry I had to tell you like this, but it suddenly became an issue. It became relevant, I mean.“

“Did you steal him?”

“What? No!”

“Good. Wouldn’t be nice for your career. You can’t become a criminal. I raised my children to be polite and honest - “

“Grandma, I said that I’m gay, did you understand - “

“And I raised them to not interrupt their grandmother. Did I not?”

“Well.”

“Yes?”

“...sorry.”

“So you do remember your manners. Fine. Well then, that not yet boyfriend of yours, did you mean that?”

“Yes…? He’s the one I’m coaching. I just need an opportunity to ask him out. Soon, I promise. But grandma, I’m not sure you understand.”

“I hope he’s very much in love with you then. He’s going to need it.”

“I think you’ve lost me.”

His grandmother sighed. “Because you’re a tad bit annoying, _zolotse_. Is he cute? Does he know that you are terribly spoiled and cry like a baby every Christmas when that one movie comes on? You know, with the sweet ordinary girl who becomes a hunter and then a princess to go onto that ball, with the hazelnuts that grant her wishes? Oh, and the prince so falls in love with her, doesn’t he. I always had to wipe your snot off. You were so messy.”

Viktor put a hand over his eyes. “Grandma,” he said, unable to keep a desperate little quake of laughter from his voice, “I’m coming out to you right now.”

“And when you were nine, you told me that you would marry your own prince one day. Introduce him to us sometime, if you manage to keep him. Be good, will you? Viktor, are you listening?”

“I - yes. Okay, grandma. I’ll be good.”

“We wouldn’t expect anything less. Now go to sleep.”

* * *

Mama, 10:38pm:  
Papa said that you’ve been googling how to confess to someone. I thought that Katsuki guy was your boyfriend already, why are you so slow? Love, Mama

Me, 10:39pm:  
Tell Papa to stay out of my search history!!

Me, 10:39pm:  
I don’t want him sniffing around in my computer just because he can.

Me, 10:40pm:  
It’s not that easy. He’s very shy, and I already overwhelmed him the first time. I’m doing my best here.

Mama, 10:41pm:  
Papa wants to know if you need a Japanese citizenship. And don’t worry so much, apparently he’s sending his friend in Thailand long emails about how much he adores you. Get on with it, I want him here for Christmas. Sometimes it helps to let him take initiative. Love, Mama

Me, 10:45pm:  
TELL. HIM. TO. STAY. OUT. OF. MY. MAILS!

Me, 10:46pm:  
And out of Yuuri’s too. He wouldn’t appreciate it if he knew. Be normal for once.

Mama, 10:50pm:  
I’m sending him a sweater with your next care package. Love, Mama

* * *

Me, 11:30pm:  
Three conditions. You tell me before you visit, you stay out of his and my privacy, and you won’t intimidate him.

Me, 11:31pm:  
I like him a lot. Please, please be nice.

Papa, 11:32pm:  
Judging from that video, he has bigger balls than you do.

Me, 11:33pm:  
No conditions. You’re never allowed to meet him. Ever.

Papa, 11:35pm:  
But your sister has more balls than you, so that’s not a surprise. She’s in the secret service now.

Me, 11:36pm:  
Good for her. I’m serious though.

Papa, 11:37pm:  
At least one of you is following the family tradition. But well, if I look at that video, I think I have to talk to your boyfriend about a change of career.

Me, 11:40pm:  
Don’t you dare.

* * *

“No way.”

“Yes,” Viktor said. “Yes way.”

Takeshi shook his head so hard that Viktor feared it might fly off any moment. “That can’t be. I’ve known him all my life, and he never said anything about it. You’re making things up.”

Viktor sighed. “Why does nobody believe me?” He picked up his chopsticks and poked sadly at the beef in his bowl. It wobbled a little and then floated to the other side. It was tight with everyone squeezing at one table, but nobody seemed to mind, especially not with their eyes boring into Viktor with pure disbelief.

Minako set her glass down and leaned forward. “Look, Viktor, you’re a wonderful skater - “

“No need to state the facts, but go on.”

“ - and it’s an honour for Yuuri to have you as a coach. But you don’t know him like we do. If he was able to do any kind of,” she waved her hands around in a motion that looked vaguely like a knife cutting through an apple, “this, then we’d know about it.”

“Hm.” Viktor hummed. “Let me prove it to you, then. Takeshi, would you be so kind and record the next few minutes? I need a video of this.”

“There’s no way he can do that,” Minako told him gently and poured herself another glass. “I’ll bet money on that.”

Takeshi nodded. He was already reaching into his bag, digging around for his phone. “I’m with her on that. We know him a bit better than you, Viktor. No offense.”

Viktor got up in one smooth motion and smiled. “Then you have nothing to lose, right? Great. Takeshi, get in position, and let me through there, I need to stand behind the door.”

* * *

 

Yuuri didn’t talk to him for the rest of the evening. He didn’t talk at all, in fact, neither to his friends nor to his parents who had heard the loud thump and had come to look whether everything was alright. Once Takeshi and Minako had left (“I don’t believe this. This is a dream. A stunt double. There has to be an explanation.” - “He didn’t learn it from me, I only taught him how to lift his leg up high.”), Viktor wasted no time and went to his room. He ordered the red version of his own phone case and a poodle strap that Yuuri had been ogling on the internet ever since Viktor had arrived.

He had just switched out the light and curled up towards the window when the door opened an inch. Viktor forced his breathing to even out.

Yuuri waited for a long minute. Then he closed the door again, and Viktor heard him shuffling along the corridor to his room. He opened his eyes again. The lake outside moved in gentle waves. Viktor stared at it until something tickled in his mind.

He reached for his phone. His mother had sent him another text about the care package, but Viktor scrolled to the second last message before that.

He had just needed a plan. It was worth a try.

* * *

“Honestly, Viktor.” Yuuri lowered his hands and went to clasping them together in front of his body in nervous little twists. “Are you listening? I don’t want you to get this the wrong way. I’m not an aggressive person. I’m really not. It won’t happen again, if you would be so kind not to jump at me from behind?”

“Definitely not promising that,” Viktor said happily. “Come on, show me one more time.”

“No.”

“Yuuri.”

“It’s been a week, will you stop bugging me already?”

“But it’s important this time.”

“How can it be?”

“Please?”

“I won’t. I almost hurt you the last time.” Yuuri looked down and reached for his skates. The changing room was icy cold, the hall about to close in a few minutes. Viktor thought about the small Italian restaurant down the street. He thought about how much weight Yuuri had lost, how hard he’d been working.

“You didn’t,” he said then, as softly as he could, and made sure to bend down so that his words tickled Yuuri’s ear. “You didn’t hurt me. I trust you that you won’t. I’d just like to see it again. You move so differently when you throw me on the ground.”

Yuuri made a strangled sound. “N-oh. Let’s, let’s not do that, okay? I really rather wouldn’t.”

“I won’t ask for it again, I really won’t. And no video this time, promise.”

“What video?”

“Ah, nothing. Please?”

“It’s only meant for defense. Using it to attack you is - it’s more than just bad manners.”

“Well, your behaviour is impeccable otherwise, I think you can afford a slip-up in your codex.”

Yuuri ducked his head down lower and didn’t answer. He was struggling to get his skates off and that along with Viktor still nuzzling at his ear forced a deep blush across his face. Viktor was saving the sight to his memory in all details, and while he was at it, he dropped heavily onto the bench and leaned his forehead against Yuuri’s temple. If he wasn’t getting a chance, he had to create one.

“I need you to. You can be gentle with me, you can tell me how to fall, to relax and let you lead, but you have to do it. It’s the only way for me to tell you something.”

The reaction was extraordinary. Yuuri went stiff as a board. Viktor waited patiently. Maybe, if he stayed still enough, he could make out Yuuri’s heart beat and count how many times it went in a minute. Did being in love have a certain frequency or rhythm?

When nothing else happened and Viktor gave no signs that he’d be moving away anytime soon, Yuuri huffed a little breath.

“If this is a joke, it’s not a very good one.”

Viktor pulled away, just a fraction, to look at him. Yuuri’s face was burning, even darker than before, only his mouth pale and thinned into a line.

“No,” Viktor said quietly, smiling. “Trust me.”

“You know I do.” Yuuri went to stand up, pushing both skates off his feet. His glasses were still on the bench so he was squinting, legs apart a bit and arms by his side. “Promise that it’s not for some stupid reason?”

Viktor said, “I swear,” and charged him on the last syllable.

It felt like he hit the floor even faster than before, but that didn’t matter. Yuuri had grabbed him somewhere on his arm and in another place Viktor didn’t bother to register; he was busy slinging his leg around Yuuri’s hip and dragging him down. It had to be his lucky day, or maybe Yuuri was just too tired and embarrassed, because he actually crumbled. His forearms thumped on the floor on each side of Viktor’s head, one knee pressing to his chest (oh, he was so flexible, Viktor reminded himself gleefully) and the other by his hip.

“Why,” Yuuri pressed out, barely out of breath, light from the ceiling shining around his head in a faint glimmer, “do you keep doing this to yourself? I thought you’d be fighting back this time.”

Viktor blinked a few times. His head was dizzy from the turbulence of being thrown around like a sack of flour, but nothing really hurt. Yuuri stared down at him, the corners of his mouth sinking slowly. “Viktor?” he said. “Oh God. I smacked your head in. I’m - I’m so sorry, I’ll call an ambulance, I shouldn’t have agreed to this.”

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

Yuuri stilled.

“If you’d like that.” Viktor moved his hand. He didn’t dare to raise it, so he touched his fingers to Yuuri’s wrist somewhere above his head. His skin was cold, soft, and Viktor wanted to press his lips to it and map it to his memory.

“If not, I won’t. That’s why you’re on top of me.” Breathing was hard, impossible. The words tumbled out all at once. Yuuri was there, hadn’t left yet, the future had a thousand ways of happening. “You can leave. Or just ignore me, I won’t mention it again. But I’d like to kiss you. I’ve wanted to for a while.”

Yuuri leaned down. His mouth was warm when it brushed over Viktor’s lips, lingering where they fell open into a little gasp.

“Oh,” Viktor said and closed his eyes.

They were silent for a bit. Then, Yuuri shifted over him. Viktor forgot how to breathe when trembling fingers touched his cheek and a mouth that was now hot and alive traveled over his temple.

“Show me how?”

Viktor did.

* * *

“No way in hell.”

“Mhm. Sending you the video right now. You have to see this.”

“You’re better not wasting my time.”

“You can take five minutes off your training, Yuri. Are you eating right? You’re a beanpole. That’s an idiom I learned here, isn’t that cute?”

“Fuck off. Let me see.”

“Well?”

“...”

“Knew it. You’re impressed.”

“I had no idea that he could do that.”

“Right?”

“When did he learn that? That throw was sick. I mean, it was alright. You’re not that heavy after all.”

“Huh. Will you look at that. Never thought I’d live to the day where I hear you give an honest compliment.”

“Shut up, I took it back.”

“Coward.”

“I’m not - whatever, screw you. Anyways. Bet he had to learn it ‘cause he was a total loser in school. The other kids probably fucked him up every day. He’s still a nerd and a weakling, that must have come from somewhere. Ooh, maybe he was a teacher’s pet. I hate those people.”

“Watch your language.”

“Fuck out of my face, alright. Wait. I didn’t even swear just then!”

“No, but you were insulting my future boyfriend. We’re going out for dinner in five minutes. I’m going to ask him then, I think he didn’t understand it with just a kiss.”

“Oh my God, _ew_. I’m hanging up.”

“I’m deeply hurt. You should be happy that I’m happy, that your great idol is full of bliss.”

“Remind me where I asked to hear about this.”

“One day, you’ll learn about the miracles of love.”

“Your face will learn about the miracles of my fist.”

“I’d feel threatened if you could actually reach that high.”

“I’m almost as tall as your loser!”

“If he was shorter, I’d just lean down to kiss him. ...Yurio? Aw.”

* * *

Yurio~, 9:56am:  
i hope he slams your head thru the pavement nex t time

Me, 9:57am:  
It’s sweet of you to be concerned. However, I think he’ll just slam me into and on top of other things :)

Yurio~, 10:01am:  
youre both disgustin and deserve each othr. never tell me anythin tho

Yurio~, 11:34am:  
and ill still destroy him

Me, 12:47am:  
We’ll watch you try.

* * *

“I’m really sick of people,” Yuuri whispered into his ear, “who keep taking videos of me without permission.”

“To be fair, this time we’re both on it,” Viktor argued. “Also, you’re probably gonna look cuter than on the last one.”

The cameras around them flashed so brightly that Yuuri pressed his eyes shut. Viktor still had him in a hug, everything was a bit chaotic and nobody seemed to mind that only three of the four people on the winner’s podium had actually won something today.

Yuuri put his feet on Viktor’s so he had enough room to stand and tiptoed up, finally able to whisper into his ear: “A hug is nice and all, but how about a kiss?”

This was it, Viktor thought. Life wasn’t going to get better than this. He committed the moment to memory for a second before he put his forehead to Yuuri’s. “You want to come out in front of international TV cameras? I think you actually like being on those videos.”

A slow, feline grin spread on Yuuri’s face. He tilted his head to the side, just a fraction, and Viktor followed his hint.

Yuri was staring at them from one step below, clutching his silver medal to his chest. The smile on his lips was tiny, but it looked genuine. He’d learned a lot, Viktor thought, and then his mind caught on.

“You want to,” he stared back at Yuuri. “In front of everyone?”

Yuuri laughed. The glint in his eyes was brave, the tremble of his fingers not yet gone, and it took Viktor’s breath clean out of his lungs. “At least I get to pick my scandal this time. Imagine Yuri’s face, we’ll never have a chance like that again.”

Unbelievable, Viktor thought and bent down to kiss Yuuri into tomorrow’s headlines. Maybe he'd need that citizenship after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Viktor’s grandmother calls him **золотце** (zolotse) which roughly translates to gold, but can be interpreted as treasure, honey, darling, sweetheart or something along the lines of those.
> 
> The movie reference is from the film **Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel** (Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella), which is a beautiful movie that is traditionally shown on TV in many European countries, including Russia, around Christmas time. You should watch it.


End file.
